Ted Goeglein On What Makes A Great Book

Dec 31, 2017 • Ted Goeglein

Everything

A great book is about everything.

I came up with that thought myself and also picked it up somewhere, and then changed it a little or maybe more than a little, maybe a lot, until it was not completely unfamiliar but also completely new.

Which is how the best book festivals are made.

The Chicago Young Adult Book Festival is about gender and witches, race and invisibility, violence and escape, distant worlds and this world. It’s about bullying and redemption, crime and show business, and dogs that can read minds. It’s about ghosts, goldmines, blind grandparents, and how to win the love of your life in ten easy steps.

And that doesn’t cover half of it.

The subject matter is endless because CYABF is about everything.

Over the next few months, authors will fill this space with their thoughts about what makes a great book. Then, on Saturday, April 14th those same authors will appear at the Chicago Young Adult Book festival ready to hear your thoughts, too.